Project Beacon of Hope
Date and Time
Apr 4, 2019 8:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Apr 4, 2019 8:00 pm
450K
Project Beacon of Hope is a poetry event raising awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Awareness. This event will include nationally recognized and local spoken word artists who are lending their voices in addition to community and advocacy leaders to help Safe Shores-The DC Children's Advocacy Center with their fight to end child abuse.
Performers Include:Â
Born on the sofrito-infused island of Puerto Rico to a military family and raised amongst the hodgepodge culture of the United States, Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez spent much of her childhood balancing overlapping worlds that would eventually join to become her own. Whether it was dancing salsa, speaking Spanish, and making pernil at home or listening to rap and craving Mrs. Daisy’s collard greens, it did not take long for Tatiana to recognize herself as an Afroboricua.
As an Afroboricua, Tatiana names Julia de Burgos as her greatest inspiration, but also notes the works of Zora Neale Hurston, Claudia Rankine, and Esmeralda Santiago, among others, as her gumbo recipe for creative backboards. All, being writers born into the minority, were still able to dance past all limitations with a fierce grace solidifying them into the literary hall of fame. For Tatiana, the underrepresented need to be heard, the perspective of people of color is vital, and the perspective of women is crucial. Above all things, the perspective of the marginalized is necessary and this is what truly wakes the muse in her work.
Tatiana graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in American Studies from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is a VONA/Voices Alumna having studied under award-winning poet Willie Perdomo. Tatiana has been published in Pool Poetry, Spillwords, The Acentos Review, A Gypsy's Library, and Here Comes Everyone: East & West Issue. She mainly performs in the greater Washington D.C. area, but has also shared her work throughout the continental United States and the Dominican Republic. She is currently working on her first collection of poetry Coconut Curls y Café con Leche.
Enoch the Poet was born and raised on the north side of Wilmington, DE. He uses his art to address issues of Black mental health, the Black social condition in America and the multiple ways in which these two topics intersect. He teaches various workshops around the tri-state area geared towards exploring self and using poetry as a form of mental therapy and rehabilitation.
In April of 2017 he earned a spot on the 2017 Philadelphia Fuze National Poetry Slam Team as well as won the title of 2017 Philadelphia Fuze Grand Slam Champion. He then went on to compete in the Individual World Poetry Slam competition where he ranked 28th in the nation.
He’s had work published in various literary magazines such as Wusgood and Open Mind Quarterly and before the end of 2017 he also published his first full length book of poetry titled “The Guide to Drowning.â€
Mecca “Meccamorphosis†Verdell is a Teaching artist for Dewmore Baltimore who’s performed in venues like busboys and poets, The Hippodrome and the Kennedy Center where she won Brave New Voices in 2016, became the college LTAB slam champion in 2017, southern fried regional champion of 2017. She’s also the host of Soap box open mic and helps provides free spaces for young artist.
She is the 2017 former Youth Literary Ambassador of Baltimore where She teaches poetry at her alma mater and uses art and activism to bring the community together. Recently Becoming top 10 of 96 competitors for the annual Women of World poetry slam and top 3 of Texas Grand Slam of 2018 currently featured in the Baltimore Uprising HBO documentary.
Kevin Wiggins aka The Mysfit is a spoken word performer and storyteller. His work has been published in the poetry and urban fictions genre. He writes from a place of hope and a place of humanity. The stage is where he allows his art to lift from pages as he opens up to share his passions.
